


This is for Obi-Wan

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Deathfic, Friends and Enemies, Gen, Horror, Mistaken Identity, Rako Hardeen - Freeform, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2018-09-26 15:52:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9910088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Something else from the vault that's been doing nothing but sit there for a long time.This time, when Anakin goes to betray everything Obi-Wan ever stood for- to honor Obi-Wan's memory, of course- there are consequences. Maybe, he should have done the right thing.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Where was Anakin? He was close, and he was angry. Very deeply angry. Obi-Wan had hoped he would be able to get through the mission without telling his brother... because anyone watching Anakin would  _ know...  _ but since the boy had disobeyed the Council, and the ship was crashed... and he couldn't have “Rako Hardeen” rumored as having Force powers... if he and Bane couldn't get out fast, he would have to find a way to tell him—

He spun around, and instantly a meter of blue-white plasma was protruding from his back.

He choked, frozen in shock. But he hadn't sensed— the Force hadn't—

He stared into his former padawan's eyes. Read there absolute hate and darkness. Revenge.

And in a sickening realization, Obi-Wan knew this wasn't the first time Anakin had killed in revenge. A vision flickered before his eyes, of Anakin slaughtering a village of Tuskens. The entire village. Down to the children.

To avenge his mother.

Anakin jerked the blade free, triumph screaming from him in the Force.

“Anakin,” he whispered. Then his knees buckled and he crashed to kneel in front of his best friend. Agony swept over him, but the pain of the wound was minimized by the weight of horror unleashed upon him. This was the second time Anakin had gone hunting in revenge.

A look of confusion swept Skywalker's face, but he had to spin to deal with Cad Bane.

Obi-Wan felt his disguise melting away, his face reverting to its natural form. He gasped for air, feeling blood spilling through all the places it shouldn't within him.

He gagged, heaved— brought up the voice modifier and blood.

“What—?” Ahsoka, who had come running, slammed to a halt. She stared down at Racko Hardeen in astonishment. “Who—”

Obi-Wan looked up at her, his teeth clenched and his eyes blazing and glazed at the same time. “Don't— let—” he bit back a cry of agony and crumpled forward into a fetal position on the ground.

Ahsoka dropped cautiously next to him, staring at him in horror. “Master...  _ Kenobi _ ?!”

“Anakin will hate himself for what has happened—” Obi-Wan struggled for air. “Bitterness... Anger.... I know what he did after his mother died. He may turn to the dark— don't  _ let him _ , Ahsoka. Tell him I don't hold this against him—” His body jerked, his head thrown back.

And in that moment, Ahsoka knew.

She understood the whole thing.

Horror washed over her like a tidal wave. She drew Obi-Wan into her arms, resting his head against her shoulder.

“Please,” she begged. “Please hold on. Anakin will  _ die  _ if he—”

“Tell him,” Obi-Wan interrupted, his voice barely audible. His body stiffened as a wave of unbearable pain crashed over him. Then went terribly still.

“No,” Ahsoka gasped. She searched for a pulse.

Didn't find one.

“Bane's dead.” Anakin materialized out of the mist and approached.

Ahsoka looked up at him in panic. “Master—”

Anakin froze, his gaze locked on the figure she was holding. The head, whose face was tilted towards Ahsoka...

Anakin abruptly knelt and reached out his hand to tilt the face up.

“Anakin—” Ahsoka pleaded, tears breaking free.

Anakin's fingers connected with the jawline...

Tipped the face...

And he fell back in horror.

Panic began to claw at his throat, tearing at his mind.

“He pretended to be his own killer as a secret mission,” Ahsoka choked. “That's why the Council didn't want us to—”

_ “No!” _ The scream that tore from Anakin's bloodless lips chilled Ahsoka to the bone. The sheer horror, driving him to the point of near insanity... the  _ pain _ ... the  _ grief— _

To discover he  _ hadn't  _ lost his master only to find he himself had  _ killed _ him...

Anakin clawed at his face, lurched to his feet, and staggered off into the mist, the silence heavy.

He was quiet now.

But in the Force, his pain and grief shrieked so loud it jarred Ahsoka's mind.

It nearly drove her crazy.

 


	2. This is for Anakin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time in this AU: Anakin slaughtered Hardeen, only to discover it had been Obi-Wan.
> 
> Now, months later, Anakin is changed. Fortunately, Ahsoka still stands with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific Warning: Expect an incapacitating flashback for Anakin.

 

“ _Do it,_ ” Palpatine hissed.

Anakin raised his sabers to murder the wounded and helpless Dooku, only to freeze up.

_What is wrong with this boy?_ Sidious wondered, frustrated as hell. Tano could wake up any moment, that  _fool_ Dooku not having killed her like Sidious had  _told him to_ , and instead just knocking her out.

Palpatine would have to find a way to make sure Ahsoka Tano never left the  _Invisible Hand._

But Anakin's hands were shaking, and he backed away. His breathing turned ragged, his thumbs slipped off the ignition switches, sending the blades back up into the hilts.

Turning, he stumbled in the direction of his unconscious former apprentice.

“Anakin, my boy!” Palpatine protested, still bound to the chair.  _Not the plan. This is_ not  _the plan!_ He glared at Dooku, but his aged apprentice knelt there, eyes glazed in shock.

Useless. Utterly  _useless—_

 

* * *

 

He couldn't breathe. It was Hardeen there, staring at him, whispering, “ _Anakin—_ ”

The last few months had been so long, so grim, so hopeless, and he could barely remember the feel of Obi-Wan's hand on his shoulder, or the sound of his voice. Only holos kept his image alive for Anakin.

He needed to feel Ahsoka was  _alive._

He crouched beside her, one hand splayed on her back, feeling the soft rise and fall of her rib cage.

_I didn't get her killed. Not this time._

“Anakin, free me at once!”

Someone was shouting at him, but he couldn't handle it. He just curled more over Ahsoka. His padawan, his knight, and in recent weeks, his closest friend.

He reached up to touch her bead head-dress, which no longer held her padawan train.

He'd severed it, when he knighted her. He felt so proud in that moment, seeing the kind, incredible being his little Snips had turned into—

The thundering of his pulse began to ease as he hid in the memory, letting its golden warmth seep through him.

It took a moment longer to realize they were on board a doomed Separatist ship and  _really_ needed to go. He had a prisoner to corral, and an old man to assist.

“I need you awake,” he whispered, rolling Ahsoka over and touching her cheek with his metal hand, careful to be gentle. In the Force, he reached out and tried to awaken her shut-off brain.

That haunting, painful whisper of Obi-Wan was there as always, in the Force surrounding Anakin, brushing past him in return.

He'd asked Ahsoka once if she could feel it, and she'd said no, but that it made sense. Perhaps Obi-Wan's scattered consciousness, asleep in death, was drawn to Anakin like a magnet without even knowing it.

His person.

Anakin feared it had nothing to do with love and everything to do with the fact that he murdered him. In the Force, Obi-Wan's blood still clinging to his hands.

Given Palpatine  _knew_ what that night on Orondia had done to Anakin's mind and even his body, how  _could_ he demand something like murdering Dooku from Anakin? He'd snarled the command, not caring how triggering the whole thing might end up being for Anakin.

Ahsoka blinked, winced, then sat up. “Master?”  
“We have to go. I need you to keep track of Dooku so he doesn't get away.” Though... on looking back at him, Anakin saw the mutilated Sith hadn't moved an inch, in far too much pain to flee.

“You okay?” Ahsoka asked, frowning as she saw Anakin's face.

He shook his head.

She reached up, squeezed his shoulder. “Okay. I'll take care of Dooku.”

All four of them ended up getting off the ship.

Alive.

And given the fact that Dooku could be used as a bargaining piece to end the war, Anakin just couldn't understand why Palpatine was so  _skeeved_ with Anakin.

He'd always assumed a father figure would react with concern upon seeing one they cared about completely lost in a flashback while stuck on a ship that was breaking apart and crashing.

But for some reason, Palpatine didn't seem concerned about Anakin's safety at all.

Only furious that Anakin hadn't broken his vows and murdered in cold blood  _again._

_I'm not your personal murder toy._

And since it had been Palpatine who had sent Anakin after Hardeen in the first place...

Anakin would have thought he'd be a bit less pushy if Anakin couldn't walk that road again.

Fortunately, Ahsoka was far more understanding, and seeing the pride in her eyes, and the respect in Mace Windu's, when it became clear Anakin had brought home a live prisoner instead of a corpse, well...

It made him think that maybe, somewhere out there, Obi-Wan might even be proud of him too.

 


End file.
